


Four Times Zoe Saved Wash

by Tassos



Category: Firefly
Genre: Community: fandom_stocking, F/M, N Things, Season 1 Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-12-22
Updated: 2011-12-22
Packaged: 2017-10-27 18:12:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,442
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/298609
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tassos/pseuds/Tassos
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Four times Zoe saved Wash.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Four Times Zoe Saved Wash

**Author's Note:**

  * For [hiddencait](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=hiddencait).



1

"Now fellas. Don't be hasty." Wash took a delicate step back, away from the five giant, gargantuan men that had thrown him out of the bar and were now backing him into a deep and dark alley. "You know I was only kidding when I said you looked like a dog with its face smashed in. You're really quite handsome!"

Dog Face's beady little eyes narrowed. "You're going to regret ever coming here!" he pointed at Wash with a gnarled finger and a nasty grin. His friends were closing in around the edges, like those small cat things rich people had for tormenting mice.

Wash cursed himself for all his stupidity that refused to listen when Captain Reynolds said it might be best if he stayed with the boat. But this scruffy little town on this dusty little moon was the first dirt they'd seen in nearly three weeks, and no way was Wash staying on Serenity with Bester. Even with a beating imminent, he still wasn't sure he was getting the worse deal here. On the other hand -- beating.

"How 'bout you take it one at a time, huh?" he said, because really there was no need to have all of them on him at once. He did want to walk later. But Gap Tooth on the right and Needs a Bath on the far left both looked about to pounce.

"How 'bout you learn to keep your mouth shut," said Dog Face, front and center, and yes, yes he did just crack his knuckles. There was a wall behind Wash now. He let his head fall against it with a thunk and braced himself to crumple into a protective ball of cowardly pilot.

"How 'bout you step away before I put a hole in your head." A distinctive cocking of a gun accompanied the sweet sweet sound of Zoe Alleyne's voice. Wash had to crane to see her through the surprised throng around him as his breath whooshed out his lungs accompanied by the sweet sting of relief at her arrival.

"This ain't your business woman," Dog Face turned and snarled.

Zoe was utterly calm, still waters, no hint of fear at being one against five. "He's my crew, he's my business," she said, and when Dog Face made for the weapon on his belt, she pointed her gun down a fraction and fired into the ground.

Wash jumped, surprised. Gap Tooth and Broken Nose did too, and Needs a Bath was already disappearing down the alley. Dog Face and God That Hair grudgingly gave way, and Wash didn't need telling to dart through the gap to the safe spot behind Zoe. As he did he took the moment to admire the straight and easy line of her body, her arm, her weapon. Even backlit, she was gorgeous, and Wash just wanted sweep her off her feet and kiss her.

That may have been the adrenaline talking. Not to mention the stupidity since they wouldn't be safe till they reached Serenity. Wash settled for admiring the way she walked backward and savored the moment when she asked if he was all right once they were back in the street.

* * *

  


2

Wash had a bad case of does she/doesn't she. For the past month, Zoe had been acknowledging his presence with more than blinking. She'd engaged in idle chit chat even. He saw her smile at one of his sarcastic rebuttals to Reynolds's latest stupid idea. But Wash was never sure if she was laughing at him or Reynolds, or if it was just her dry quirky sense of humor that made him look twice when she said with complete sincerity that the meat in the soup was genuine ship rat and watch out for the whiskers that made Bester yelp and knock his bowl all over the floor.

Wash had the growing and profound urge to talk to her all the time, which would be fine if he could be a little more coherent about it. Honestly, he didn't think he had a chance, but there wasn't really anyone else to talk to that didn't make Wash want to roll his eyes (the Captain) or bang his head against a wall (Bester).

Then a week ago Zoe said hello in the galley one morning and made tea for Wash before he went on shift. When she passed him the mug, she said it was how her mother made it. The tea was sweeter than Wash was used to, and he tasted the powdered protein that passed for milk, but it was good. Wash told her about how his mother always added fresh mint from a potted plant, and then, even though it was early, something zinged between them. Ever since Wash couldn't quite tell if he had imagined it or not.

It was driving him mad.

Wash groaned and let his head fall forward on to the navigation console - carefully avoiding any important buttons. He hadn't run into her early again, so he'd tried talking at other times. Wash was giving her plenty of opportunities to flirt, right? He hadn't gone so far as a bad pickup line -- Zoe was beautiful and smart and a teensy bit scary -- but he'd asked what she liked to do during the boring part of flying the Black (read dime novels and solve those puzzle things she downloaded when they had a connection to the Cortex), he made up bad puns, and he invited her to play cards a time or four. The Captain had been there the last time and coaxed her into a few hands with them. Wash was pretty sure that didn't count.

Mostly Zoe seemed to stare at his mustache, and Wash couldn't figure out why.

"Is it so hard to give a guy a straight answer?" he asked the stegosaurus two inches from his nose. Stegosaurus didn't have any helpful advice. He sat up and picked up T-Rex.

"Yes!" he said in T-Rex's voice. "Women exist to torture your spirits and leave you hanging in the wind."

"I'm dangling by my metaphorical thumbs!" Stegosaurus replied. "Every smile is like a tantalizing and delicious carrot that I have not eaten in so long that I've forgotten what it tastes like. Yet it is there, orange and beautiful and perfect."

"I do not think Zoe's kisses will taste like carrots," said T-Rex. "And you must get her to talk to you first."

"Ahem."

Wash startled so hard at the sound behind him, twisting to see who it was and hide his dinosaurs at the same time, that he banged his knee. He only managed to topple T-Rex and Stegosaurus when he saw with embarrassment bursting hot across his face, that yes, that was Zoe standing there. Raising a single unamused eyebrow.

Wash babbled something about staring into space and going crazy as she sauntered over. He resisted the urge to snatch his dinos away when she casually set them upright -- and there, was that a smile sneaking out of the corner of her mouth? She picked up Stegosaurus, tapped him on console twice, and said in a shockingly good imitation of Wash's Stegosaurus voice, "Why don't you ask her to dinner? She played enough cards with the Browncoats."

"Oh," said Wash, mind stuck somewhere between shock and surprise. And that was a grin lighting up her face.

"You gonna ask sometime 'fore we land?" She poked him with Stegosaurus's nose.

Wash stood, and clutching T-Rex for moral support, said, "Yes. I mean. Zoe, do you want to go get dinner after we land? And after you offload the cargo and do whatever else the Captain needs you to?"

"I'd like that," Zoe said. She held out Stegosaurs, and Wash, still a little stunned, missed once before grabbing him with his empty hand. Zoe was still grinning, and as she turned a sauntered back out, said over her shoulder, "And maybe I'll buy you dessert."

* * *

  


3

"It would really help right now if you would sit still!" Wash sing-songed at Zoe. She kept wiggling and twisting to see if the local law was still on their tail -- they were; Wash could hear the purr of their Chev 4 engine just fine -- and throwing the weight off in the nice little hovercraft they'd … borrowed.

Her weapon was clear of its holster but it didn't have the range to make a dent in the Chev, which was how Wash intended to keep it. This distance, the law couldn't shoot at them either, but their more powerful engine was gaining on them. If Wash could hold on to their lead for two more minutes, they'd hit the canyons and the hovercraft would prove its worth in maneuverability. But they weren't there yet.

"They're getting closer!" said Zoe, settling so she was facing backward against the seat. The wind whipped her words away. "And they brought a big gun."

Wash distantly felt a frission of fear slide through the back of his mind. If he didn't have other things to worry about, he'd worry, but for now his hands and attention were focused on the ground zooming by, the pull of the stick ready to leap out of his control the moment he broke his concentration, the looming of the canyon wall and the angle and speed he'd have to make to turn the first corner.

"I just want to go on record that this was not what I had in mind for our honeymoon."

"I would hope not," said Zoe. Under the wind, he heard the faint clicks as she checked her gun.

"I was thinking hot springs on Kerry, or maybe a bit of New Melbourne beach. Candlelit dinners, beautiful sunsets."

"Hot baths, clean sheets, a soft bed."

Wash smiled at the thought of a big wide bed -- then checked his speedometer, flipped the brake switch, and got ready to pull a fast turn without crashing.

"You better strap in!"

"One second."

"We're going 55 meters a second -- I really think you should strap in!"

But just then, Wash heard and saw flash by them a laser energy pulse that was most definitely from a really big gun. It burned into the mesa ahead of them with a sizzling crack. They were lucky it'd been a miss but Wash couldn't maneuver, not till they threaded the canyon mouth and made the turn and he could throttle back and lose them among the deep gullies.

"Zoe?" he said, his voice even, because the gap he had to hit was widening up ahead. "You're going to take care of that right?" They were closing on the canyon fast.

Zoe didn't answer. But she fired half a dozen times, and behind them Wash heard havoc. He didn't waste time or brainspace thinking about it. They were at the mouth; he shifted gears, flipped the right engine, hooked the turn, and let them careen down where only a crazy good pilot would be able to follow.

"Haha!" Wash yelled, nerves on fire as he guided them on the twisty path toward Serenity. Pure action, reaction, a feather floating, a single pebble skipping across a pond. He felt Zoe slide back into her seat -- compensated for the rocking -- and let the wind rush through his hair. Flying was a high that he never tired of.

Only one thing was better -- Wash glanced at Zoe beside him who was watching him back with soft yet hungry eyes, delight and want written on her face that hit Wash in the chest all at once. Zoe's hair was flying every which-way as she caught her own breath, sunlight glinting off the ring on her finger.

"Husband," said Zoe, licking her lips. The sound of pursuit was long gone and the valley broadened ahead of them, Serenity a distant dot. They were like the only two people on the planet, the only two people who mattered.

"Yes, wife?" Wash's heart pumped with adrenaline and fierce joy and love for this woman whose fingers laced between his on the stick.

"Pull over," she said. "I need to ravish you."

They were kissing before the hovercraft came to a complete stop, tumbling before they got their legs beneath them, then laughing and making love under a honeyed sky.

* * *

  


4

_"Him. I'm sorry, you were going to ask me to choose, right? Do you want to finish?"_

Wash wasn't really sleeping. The broad pain was dulled by Simon's painkillers, but the pins and needles and random firing of pesky nerves prickled under his skin. More than that, now that he was home safe with Zoe beside him in their bunk and the afterglow of post-terror sex fading, the enormity of the past two days was settling in like a lead weight. There was too much to think about. Too much to wonder what-if, and his thoughts spun through all of them. Too much to love and hate Mal for, to love Zoe for, and to wonder when it would all come crashing down.

Today, blind luck felt like it was all that held them together.

"Mngg." Zoe twitched in her sleep, her leg kicking out, clipping his ankle. Wash barely had time to turn on his side before she jerked awake, breathing hard. Wash knew the signs -- a nightmare.

"Lamby-toes?" he said softly like he always did. He waited for Zoe to catch her breath and tell him she was fine, go back to sleep as she always did. She never wanted to talk about her ghosts in the night.

But tonight the pause was longer than usual, and instead of closing her eyes or rolling over, Zoe turned toward Wash, her breath skating over his bare shoulder.

"Bad dream?" said Wash, hesitant in unfamiliar territory.

"Yes," said Zoe. "I dreamed . . ." She shifted closer, her hand reaching out and coming to rest on his hip. "I dreamed I didn't get there in time. You were hanging there and then shells started falling out of the ceiling and I had to leave." He heard her swallow, her voice choked as she finished. "I had to leave you."

"Oh." Wash drew his hand up her arm, and when she didn't flinch back, he pulled her fully into his arms. Zoe's hair tickled his nose and she hugged him tight, hiding her face in his neck like she rarely had before. Zoe wasn't the crying type, and she didn't cry now, but Wash murmured, "You saved me. You always save me," over and over as she curled into him and held on.

Later, their foreheads pressed together on the same pillow, Zoe said, "You save me too."


End file.
